The Age of Angels
by sydney-ivashkov
Summary: After losing her Parabatai under mysterious circumstances, Alexis Herondale is forced on a mission to uncover her. However, a darker force is at play, one that surrounds the death of her father and isolation of her mother. With her friends in tow, Alexis must take a new generation of Shadowhunters into the downworld and in doing so, place her life and own romances in danger.


**Chapter One: Separation**

Alexis was livid.

Running down the halls of the Institute was intuitive to her now, she knew which corners to take and what rooms needed to be avoided. But most of all, she knew where her parabatai, Lily Highchase, would be hiding.

"Lily, I swear -" Alexis threw open the door of the room, exposing the dim lights of the library. Inside everything was still, too still, Alexis thought. Her hand reached for her seraph blade, the names of angels tickling at her mind.

"Remiel," She whispered.

The darkness was shattered, bending under the weight of her sword divine light. Seraph blades had been the weapons of Shadowhunters for generations and like her father, Alexis used hers with pride.

"Lily?" The shadows seem to evade her, moving around her and avoiding the heavenly glow of Remiel. She needed to find her friend.

Lily had to explain her actions. Alexis, after reading - possibly - forbidden documents, uncovered her Parabatai's secret. It was something about what had happened during the Great Demon War. Until now, the event had been clouded in a veil of untruths. But Lily knew something else, something about her father.

"Hello, Lily, if you're here this isn't funny. I'll get Max to turn you into a goose, a really ugly Goose with purple feet."

Still, she didn't receive a response. Alexis and Lily had been bound together since the tender age of twelve, always and constantly consumed with the others feelings and instincts. But now Alexis couldn't feel her presence, maybe she wasn't in the room - or something worse had happened.

Lexi drew in a breath. She was sure, if someone was to stumble into the library, they would have thought she was crazy. But talking to shadows wasn't all that wayward in her family, the Herondales, after all, prided themselves on peculiarities.

Beside her, a book hit the ground, it's binding relenting. Loose pages made their escape, spreading across the floor like jam on bread. She reached down, her long narrow fingers, another physical feature inherited from her Dad, picked up the closest page; Do not underestimate the power of Angels, dear Herondale. For now, your friend joins your Dad.

Then, Alexis felt her parabatai rune throb, the pain slicing down her spine like a sinister knife. Someone somewhere was hurting Lily and in turn, harming her. She screamed.

The pain ripped through her body, consuming her thoughts. The shadows in the library were just a memory, no longer important or necessary. Alexis felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, their saltiness chapping her lips and staining her face with mascara. It was a bad day to wear makeup, the thought briefly crossed her mind. But then she was yelling again, she couldn't stop, the pain wouldn't stop.

Across the room, well at least Alexis thought it was across the room, a light appeared. Her sense of direction was disrupted, muted through her friends suffering. Then she realized, it wasn't a light, it was Max.

Blue from head to toe, Max Lightwood-Bane was her Cousin, but more promptly her brother. He had stopped aging at twenty-one, making them close in age physically, but not so much mentally. She could feel him coming towards her and assumed his eyebrows were furrowed, the way they always were when he was confused - or worried.

"Lex, what's wrong? Talk to me." He was yelling, well she thought he was yelling. He could have been talking normally, but it wouldn't have made a difference. A fogginess clogged her brain, making her words inaudible and her ears slur.

"Ok - rune - Lily."

Max knelt down and reached his hand out towards her. The pad of his thumb swept her rune, magic fizzled, the pain subsided, but the throbbing was persistent and Alexis continued to cry.

"Hey, hey. Lex, you need to calm down, I can't help you if you can't speak."

Alexis knew he was right. Slightly, she pushed herself up against the bookcase, her nails digging into the wooden floor to establish a wobbly balancing act. "The note," she gasped, "read the note."

Max stared at the paper, it had been thrust into his hands and accordingly, knocked the air out of his lungs. "Are they trying to say Jace is alive? I mean, they wouldn't kill Lily, especially if they're trying to get to you."

Lexi tilted her head forward, "Lily had a secret about the Demon War, I just found that out and came here to question her. Then," she pointed around the room, "this happened."

Max admired the seraph blade stuck haphazardly into a wall. "You had a fight with yourself?" He Questioned.

He was given a groan in response. "I could feel Lily was in trouble, I can still feel it. We need to find her, let's find Jess." Alexis went to move, using a shelf to support her weight; but as quickly as she got up, Max had pulled her back down.

"We don't know where to start, the search would be futile," Max commented. "You should ask your mother, she'll know a way of tracking Lily."

Alexis felt her eyes grow wide. Max never brought up her mom, Clary Herondale, ever since her father disappeared she'd been a shell. Although she was charged with protecting the New York Institute, the task had really been adopted by her Aunt Izzy and Uncle Simon. Clary was hopeless, Magnus had once said, without Jace by her side. They were soulmates if you could coin a term.

"Definitely not, are you crazy Max? You're Dad's however, may be able to help."

Max sighed, he sighed a lot for someone who was immortal, Alexis thought. Jess constantly joked that 'exasperated' was his middle name.

"I'm sure they'll be a bundle of kittens about it."

Max knew that the moment he told his Dad's, Alec being the parabatai of Jace Herondale, a manhunt would insure. Alec had always had faith in Jace's survival, he said he would have felt it if his brother had died; or fallen into a bought of loss and lunacy.

"We'd have to report it to the Clave, you know how strict the ruled are Lex. Especially since the Cold Peace ended."

Alexis nodded, "then do that we shall."

She gave Max a quick hug, then picked herself up off the floor. He made no move to stop her this time, instead, following her towards the Library door.

"Alec might be able to teach me something," Alexis muttered.

Max didn't know if he was meant to hear her but replied anyway. "What's that?"

"He can tell me how to live," she stated, "now that part of my soul is gone."


End file.
